Armenia sends measles vaccine to Georgia to combat outbreak

Armenia sends measles vaccine to Georgia to combat outbreak

12:54, 2 February, 2019

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 2, ARMENPRESS. Armenian Healthcare Minister Arsen Torosyan has ordered to provide 30,000 doses of measles vaccinations to Georgia in order “for our neighbor country to more effectively and faster struggle with the measles outbreaks”.

Minister of Healthcare Arsen Torosyan said on Facebook that he has spoken with his Georgian counterpart Davit Sergeenko about the outbreaks yesterday. “He informed me that 1028 new cases of measles have been detected until today, which is mostly associated with the fact that many children in the 90s were not vaccinated against measles. I was also informed that the daily detected 50-60 cases  have dropped to a daily of 35, thanks to the anti-pandemic actions that are being carried out in Georgia, including the intensive vaccinations of the population aged 20-40,” Torosyan said on Facebook.

According to Torosyan, the last confirmed case of measles in Armenia was back in 2007 – due to the high indicator of anti-measles vaccinations. “The last imported case was detected in December of 2018 in a passenger who arrived from Russia, and fortunately it did not spread in our country. I call on everyone to get the vaccinations envisaged by the national immunization program, and in case of having symptoms – contact a doctor,” he said.

The measles outbreak in Georgia is mostly centralized in Tbilisi.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan